no 
CANVASS-BACK DUCK. 
dance of their favorite food, that towards the beginning of Novem- 
ber they arc in pretty good order. They are excellent divers, and 
swim with great speed and agility. They sometimes assemble in 
such multitudes as to cover several acres of the river, and when 
they rise suddenly, produce a noise resembling thunder. They 
float about these shoals, diving and tearing up the grass by the 
roots, which is the only part they eat. They are extremely shy, 
and can rarely be approached unless by stratagem. When wound- 
ed in the wing they dive to such prodigious distances, and with 
such rapidity, continuing it so perseveringly, and with such cun- 
ning and active vigor, as almost always to render the pursuit hope- 
less. From the great demand for these Ducks, and the high price 
they uniformly bring in market, various modes are practised to get 
within gunshot of them. The most successful way is said to be, 
decoying them to the shore by means of a dog, while the gunner 
lies closely concealed in a proper situation. The dog, if properly 
trained, plays backwards and forwards along the margin of the 
water, and the Ducks observing his manoeuvres, enticed perhaps 
by curiosity, gradually approach the shore, until they are some- 
times within twenty or thirty yards of the spot where the gunner 
lies concealed, and from which he rakes them, first on the water 
and then as they rise. This method is called tolling them in. If 
the Ducks seem difficult to decoy, any glaring object, such as a red 
handkerchief, is fixed round the dog^s middle, or to his tail, and 
tl\is rarely fails to attract them. Sometimes by moonlight the 
spoi tsman directs his skiff towards a flock whose position he had 
previously ascertained, keeping within the projecting shadow of 
some wood, bank, or headland, and paddles along so silently and 
imperceptibly as often to approach within fifteen or twenty yards 
of a flock of many thousands, among which he generally makes 
great slaughter. 
Many other stratagems are practised, and indeed every plan 
that the ingenuity of the experienced sportsman can suggest, to 
